Back to School!

Y'all.  Do you hear the pitter patter of feet heading your way?  Those new shoes and fresh clothes are ready for you!  It's that time of year!  Can you believe it?  Even though I'm not going to be in a classroom this year, I can't help getting butterflies thinking about the beginning of the year.

Welcome and thanks for joining our blog hop!!  There are beauties, freebies, and so much MORE below.  Check it out and continue on the hop!  There's something for everybody and you can win $45 from ::my store::!! :) >>Keep Reading!!<<

Every Sunday I share an iPhone wallpaper for inspiration.  Grab this week's for free and be sure to >>follow me<< so you can have the prettiest phone each week!

Click this beauty and save it as your iPhone wallpaper!

I know that b2s is HARD.  For so many reasons- eating healthy, working out, taking care of family and friend relationships, and oh yea, WORKING again.  Well, my goal is to make one of those at least a little easier.  How about a B2s menu guide?  That's right!!  Introducing my newest product (hot off the presses!) a meal planner for you and your family.  There will be one available for each month of the year eventually.  Included are 6 recipes/week (cuz ain't no one got time for 7 meals/week!), seasonal ingredients, a slowcooker recipe each week, a YUMMY vegetarian recipe each week, grocery lists (pre-filled and left blank) and SO. MUCH. MORE.  Did I mention it's all inexpensive too?  And because I love y'all, a sample week (for the month of August) is provided fo' free, below!!  Download it, print it off, use it, save yourself valuable time, share it, tell your friends, enjoy cooking, and take pictures with the hashtag, #mealswithappleslices!

Now, I don't know about you- but first days of school can be monotonous, boring, and more of those synonyms.  BUT writing is always fun. (I'm a writing nerd for reallsies)  And it's a superb way to start the year.  Let's be honest, who is not obsessed with hashtags?  #theyrefun #andsilly #andaddsomuchpersonalitytoyourcaptions So why wouldn't your kiddos love some hashtag action?  Download this B2S {FREE} #hashtag activity to show your students that you love writing, love them, and want to have a fun year together in your classroom!

Now, what's B2S without savings?  Are you one of the lucky ones enjoying tax free weekend right now?  If you are- get out there and shop!!  If not, you can find savings in my store for today and today ONLY!  Grab anything for 20% off!

Be sure to enter our Rafflecopter, below, so you can win some fab prizes!!  Seriously, y'all!!  There are SO many prizes!! >>EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!<<


I'm not the only one on this hop!  Hop along to the next blog and get excited about heading Back to School!  Cheers, friends :)



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Healthy Holiday Tips...

The holidays are coming up upon us and it's a stressful time with so much food, sweets, and drinks readily available.  I seem to always add several extra pounds this time of year just because I have a hard time saying "no".  When I saw this awesome advice on Chef G and Rachel's Facebook Page, I knew I had to share it!  I love how simple and easy their tips are, especially number 5!  I can do lots of veggies!  What do you think?

Much needed

Weekend getaway!  Whew- sometimes we just NEED them.  Whether it's to get away from your work, the day to day, or just to take a break, weekend {or week long!} getaways are so important.  This past weekend, my fiance and I took a much needed overnight.  We hopped on the TRAIN {wooo wooo} and rode an hour and a half up to the neighboring town of Glenwood Springs.  AAAMAZING.  Such a fun trip!  Riding the train was most of the fun- and pretty inexpensive.  I really wished I could have just stayed on the train all day.  When it was time to get off, I was so sad.  The views were amazing and we just had a great time relaxing and traveling! 

But this was our first time in Glenwood and we had lots to explore!  So off we went... finding delicious food, drinks, and spending LOTS of quality time together :)



The next day I came back home feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the week!  Sometimes a getaway, no matter how small and inexpensive, is just what you need! 

 



Valentine's Day Love!

Earlier this week I found this super cute and fun activity via Bridget at Little Lovely Learners. She posted here about a fun FREE Valentine's Day activity from Angelica Aves.

 

 TOO STINKIN' CUTE!! 

So we started off the week making our own "Recipes for Friendship".    It was so easy to do.  There was even a PowerPoint and student and teacher examples.  Naturally, we teachers had to make our own recipes! 

 

Our little learners loved doing this activity and came up with the absolute sweetest recipes!

 

Get a big bowl and add some kindness, a hunken piece of love, a bit of energetic, a cup of Paris, a very full cup of secret.  Stir a lot of energetic in then add a teaspoon of animals and a little sprinkle of kindness... and add a cookie.  

 

First you need love and humor.  Don't forget hugs!  Pour a cup of respectfulness and kindness.  Don't forget athleticness, secret keeping.  And you have to put a cup of fun and a cup of height. 



We hung them up in the hallway for others to enjoy throughout the week!  LOVE!  Thanks to Angelica Aves for this great activity!

This week was just full of Valentine's Day fun.  On Wednesday we had our 5th grade dance.  Yikes!  It's an annual activity that our school does for 5th graders.  But these little guys are so not ready to be having dances.  However, it is precious to see them run around in circles or, in some cases, roll across the floor.  There is no "dancing" to really be had.  We just play some {loud!} music, add some bright lights and a colorful paper chain, and viola!  There's a dance!  I'm pretty sure we have more fun than they do... maybe. 

Here the girls are dancing together.  Who needs boys!

The next morning, we celebrated Valentine's Day with a little breakfast fun!  I think this is one of the best ideas I've had in a long time.  Having a breakfast allowed us to take our time and it got their excitement out of the way.  We had no "When are we handing out Valentine's?" or "What do I do with my Valentine mailbox?"  Thank goodness.  We spent an hour in the morning passing out Valentine's and eating breakfast, and we were through!  Whew!  I had some fun activities planned for us that we didn't even get to touch!  Parents brought in containers of pancake mix, fruit, eggs, and bagels, and we had ourselves a delicious little breakfast!  The kids watched "The Lorax" while we baked.... they were so happy and content.  And so was I :) 

We ended up having SO much food that we had to offer it to the teachers at our school!  And we STILL had some leftover! 

 

Thank goodness for projectors.  Some days are just made for a little movie time :)

 

Co teacher making pancakes for us!  YUM!

Valentine's day week ended up being a great celebration!  I often dread parties because of their hecticness and the insanity they bring with them, but this one went so smooth and was a lot of fun.  PTL, y'all!!  Now we just have to make it through TCAP... Here's to one last party before State Testing!